Theoretical and computational study of a partially coherent laser beam in a marine environment

Abstract

Abstract The propagation formula of a partially coherent Generalized Flattened Hermite-Cosh-Gaussian (GFHChG) beam in maritime atmospheric turbulence is derived with the help of the extended Huygens–Fresnel principle. In addition, the analytical expression for the beam width of a partially coherent GFHChG beam in the considered environment is investigated. From the numerical results based on the analytical formulae, we find that the analyzed beam can take different shapes of the profile, depending on the turbulence and beam parameters. And also, it can significantly resist turbulence with small wavelength and waist width values. On the other hand, when the medium becomes turbulent, the beam loses its characteristics and its resistance to fluctuations. Furthermore, the results reveal that the beam spreads more rapidly with the increase of the strength of turbulence, the outer scale size, and the decrease of the inner scale size. We should mention that the results gained represent a general form of numerous partially coherent laser beams such as Generalized Flattened Hermite Gaussian, Generalized Flattened Cosh-Gaussian, Hermite-Cosh-Gaussian, Cosh-Gaussian, Hermite-Gaussian and Gaussian Schell model beams.